Ball Fever: Boys basketball producing some upsets and surprises

Chaparral George Washington boys basketball

Welcome back, hoops fans! Pretty cool experience to share as I was blessed with the opportunity to go on the XFinity Sports Report with host Brian Roth for a little 5A/4A hoops “Round Table” this week. Check it out:

Week 1 of the 2018 season didn’t let us down and this week’s early action is producing some surprises and upsets already. Let’s dive right into the action…

A Look Back

Monday, Jan. 8

Big game of the night was GW visiting Chaparral fresh off Chap’s take down of Denver East three nights earlier. The Patriots came out ready and with parity across the board boasting five players in double figures led by Mo Diallo (double-double of 18 & 12!). Our guy, Coach K (Kevin Keyser), has your photo journalism…
When we saw this score of 75-26 come across the timeline we simply yelled, “ouch!”. The states No. 1 squad Rock Canyon not only showed their scoring prowess putting up 75 (26 from Tyson Gilbert!) but they got EXTREMELY DEFENSIVE holding Columbine to 6 points or less in three quarters and only 8 in the final stage. Quite an impressive and complete game from the Jags!
Cam’Ron Dunfee kept Douglas County in their recent winning direction scoring 25 points for the Huskies in 12-point win over Brighton.
Don’t look at Overland’s record and think you have an “on paper” win. The Trailblazers have faced one of the toughest early season schedules and it’s starting to pay off early 2018 as they notch another win this time over Rangeview with senior Tucson Redding pacing three double figure scores with 16.
Many know of strong sophomore guard Ty Foster over at Lincoln but they had another soph step up big in their win over Prairie View with TJ Bamba scoring 21 points along with 7 rebounds.
Denver East was likely ready to return to the court after their loss at ThunderDome to Chap last Friday and Lakewood took the brunt of the Angels fury going down 80-68. Daylen Kountz with another 27 point effort!

Tuesday, Jan. 9

How about a 40 point win leading to Coach Jeff Kloster’s 400th Longmont career win?!! Our Ryan Casey has your details.
Deja-vu? The Patriots with another FIVE players in double figures as they claim perhaps the best back to back two-day performance our Fever Crew has seen this year. A night after beating No. 4 Chap by 16 GW traveled again to No. 6 Regis and knocked off their second top-10 team in as many days!
Jamil Safiddiene busted open with 26 points for No. 6 Regis but D’Auntray Pierce and Mo Diallo dominated the paint combining for 26 points, 13 rebounds, and four blocks!
Sindou Cisse continues his strong senior session for Montbello (FNE) and scored 17 in the Warriors 9-point win over Thornton.
Trent Dykema and crew have Silver Creek undefeated and up to No. 2 in our latest poll. This night they kept the streak alive on the road at Greeley Central 66-58.
Boulder was down 4 to start the fourth quarter but 20 points from Davis Kang helped the Panthers secure the tight 50-49 comeback vs. Legacy.
Fever Crew is again impressed by Coach Boykins’ Huskies and DougCo took down Lincoln 56-52 at home with Cam’ron Dunfee and Brendan Temple both in double figures.
Liberty is knocking on the 5A top-10 door and senior Moz Dora scored 22 as they trounced Palmer by 18!
Holy Family dropped to No. 7 in 4A after picking up a fourth loss but bounced back this week with a 23 point win over Berthoud.
We’ve sighted a “30-piece” from Rampart senior Josh Kavalec but not enough points to keep Fountain Fort Carson from pulling off the road win by 4!
Junior Chase Hettinger was right at the doorstep of “30” scoring 28 in Castle View’s 13-point win at Prairie View.
In a lil “A-Town visiting D-Town” battle, Denver South left no doubt pounding Aurora Central 73-45!

Wednesday, Jan. 10

Pueblo West coming in as No. 6 in 4A rankings pulled away from St Mary’s with a 10-point second quarter advantage and never looked back for the 16-point victory.
Ummm…Uhhhh…I believe we mentioned before to not sleep on these Trailblazers! Coach Fisher, again, mounted the troops and knocked off No. 8 Smoky Hill with Tucson Reddings 18 which led three Overland players in double figures. Overland is STILL a strong factor in “Centennial Tough” hoops!
Speaking of Centennial League, Mullen and Cherry Creek looking to prove that they are here, “NOW” and not just rebuilding! This was an excellent back and forth overtime battle Creek edged by 1, 77-76!
Well, Hello! Highlands Ranch, 9-2, has broken into our 5A top-10 and start their top-10 run with an easy “W” over Hinkley 58-29.
Valor is 5-6, but still ranked in our top-10, and they showed why, taking down No. 4 Golden. Dan Mohrmann was all over it!
No. 1 Lewis-Palmer, with 4 players in double figures, showing what they can do beating Falcon by 26! Matthew Ragsdale with 19 in this one…
Dayne Prim, and the No. 2 Grandview Wolves, must be getting familiar to his 14 point, double digit rebound performances! This one led to a 14-point win at C-Trail.
Sooo Glad the Fever Crew was catching Bear Creek’s winning way early! Dennis Pleuss has you covered on how things are shaking up in Jeffco!

Midweek Thoughts

Wide open? Seems we have this talk annually in our big school ball but this week certainly made 5A feel that way.

Don’t fall in love with your rankings or early thoughts/impressions of squads. We’ve seen top teams who did well out-of-state stink it up upon their return and teams who are “eye opening” after tough out of state trips.

The theme we see is consistency, and there are a few “cream of the crop” squads showing that type of effort/energy/depth.

Wow! This is going to be a fun run to March!

League play, here we come…